United States V. Southwestern Cable Co. - Analysis

Analysis

The FCC's authority stemmed from the Communications Act of 1934, as amended. The Act provided that the Commission's responsibilities were to

"make available ... to all the people of the United States a rapid, efficient, Nation-wide, and world-wide wire and radio communication service ..." (47 USC 152(a))

Further, the FCC was given:

"regulatory power over all forms of electrical communication, whether by telephone, telegraph, cable, or radio."

Southwestern Cable argued that the Communications Act, properly understood, does not permit the regulation of CATV, because

1. The Commission sought legislation to explicitly allow regulation over CATV in 1959 and 1966, and both efforts were unsuccessful. The Court ruled, however, that this was not dispositive.
2. 47 U.S.C. § 152 did not independently grant the power to regulate all those services, but named areas in which regulation could be permitted by later legislative act. The Court rejected that argument, because it found no language in the statutes restricting regulation to radio, congress could not have foreseen the development of CATV at the time of the legislation, and National Broadcasting Co. v. United States had held that the Commission was granted "a comprehensive mandate" with "not niggardly but expansive powers."

The Court then notes Commission reports indicating the importance of regulating CATV, because the failure to do so, the benefits of CATV would be "placed in jeopardy by the unregulated explosive growth of CATV."

The Court notes finally that court precedents indicate that the Court may not, "in the absence of compelling evidence that such was Congress' intention ... prohibit administrative action imperative for the achievement of an agency's ultimate purposes."